Gas regulator



Spt 18, 19x34 w. c. GRoBLE GAS REGULATOR Filed Sept. 28. 1931 .Y i. '"m .-"f"" Patented Sept. 18, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1,973,704 GAS REGULATOR William C. Groble, Anderson, Ind., assgnor, by mesne assignments, to Mueller Co.,v Decatur,

Ill., a corporation Application September 28, 1931, Serial No. 565,558

1 Claim.

.valve parts. Needless to say this opening up of the regulator entails considerable time and from th labor standpoint adds to the cost of the vreplacement of the valve parts.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a gas regulator including a valve structure of such arrangement and location that access may be had to the valve structure for the replacement of parts thereof by merely removing one of the pipe connections of the regulator.

In accordance with the gerieratfeatures of this invention there is provided a regulator including a casing dening a gas chamber having in communication therewith an inlet and outlet and provided with a diaphragm to which is connected a series of levers for operating the valve slidably and .guidably disposed in a bored hole in the casing in communication with the inlet and so arranged as to insure correct movement of the valve as well as the positive seating of the same in the bored hole in which it is disposed; the valve member at its outer end being provided with a replaceable element adapted to be removed fromf'the inlet side of the casing Without in any way disturbing the levers and diaphragm and without necessitating opening of the casing.

Another feature of the invention relates to the provision of a flexible tube having an end thereof provided with a valve seat for cooperation with the valve of the regulator and including a coupling for detachably connecting this end of the exible tube to the inlet side of the casing whereby upon disconnection of this end of the tube from the casing access may be had to the valve structure for the replacement of parts thereof.

Other objects and features of this invention will more fully appear from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which illustrates a single embodiment thereof and in which Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View through `formed integral with the. cap 14..

a regulator and inlet connection embodying the features of this invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional. view taken on the line II-II of Figure 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows-and showing the construction of the valve structure; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary and sectional view of the valve structure shown in Figure 1 illustrating the flexible inlet tube disconnected from the casing and showing the manner in which a socket wrench may be inserted into the inlet side of the casing to engage a valve element for -the purpose of removing the same from the valve structure.

The reference character 10 designates gener- 70 ally a casing having an inlet opening 11 and an outlet opening 12. Disposed in the casing is the usual metal Vdiaphragm 13 held in place by the usual cap 14 suitably anchored to the casing 10.

One side of the diaphragm 13 is adapted to be 75 subjected to the pressure of the gas prevailing in the casing 10 and in the outlet .12, and the .other side of the diaphragm is subjected to the pressure of a compression spring 15, one extremity of which abuts the diaphragm and the other extremity of which abuts an adjustable screw 16 threadingly associated with a boss 17 Threaded onto the boss 17 is a cap I9 for covering the upper end of the screw 16 to prevent tamper- 85 ing with the same once the screw has been adjusted so that the spring exerts the desired pressure on the diaphragm.

Also it will be observed that the pressure on the diaphragm 13 of the spring 15 may be sup- 90 plemented by a suitable weight 20 disposed between the spring 15 and the diaphragm 13.

This invention has to do with the valve mechanism connected to and controlled by the movable diaphragm 13, which mechanism I will describe in detail hereinafter. Secured to the under side of the diaphragm 13 is a stud 21 to which is pivotally connected one end of a lever 22, the other end of which is pivotally connected to the casing by means of a pin 23 car- 100 ried by the casing. Connected to an intermediate portion of the lever 22 is an end of a link 24, the other end of which is connected, to one end of a bell crank lever 25 pivotally carried by the casing 10 through the means of a pin 105 26. The other end of the bell crank lever 25 is provided with an elongated opening 27 through which extends a pivot pin 28 secured to the valve member 30 embodying the features of this invention. l 10 It will be noted that the valve member 30 has one end bifurcated as indicated at 31 and that the associated end of lthe bell crank extends between the turcations of this end 31. The other end ot the reciprocatory valve member is provided with a cylindrical recess into whichls -threaded a leather disc carrying bolt 32 for cooperation with the valve seat 33 carrled by an inlet connection 34 threadingly asso.- ciated with the inlet opening ll.

Inasrnuch as the valve member 30 has a rectangular or square" cross section whereas the inlet opening 11 is circular in form the corners of the valve member 30 as shown in Figure 2 are eliminated, or, in other words, the valve member is beveled longitudinally a's indicated by the reference character 36 thereby enabling the free end of the valve member 30 to be slidably disposed in the cylindrical inlet opening 1l communicating with the inlet connection 34. This arrangement enables the valve member 30 to at all times be guided in proper alignment with the seat on the inlet connection 34 ,thereby-insuring that the valve vmember will vbe properly seated on its seat when it is actuated to a closed position. 'Ihat is to say the beveled-,edges 36 formed longitudinally of the valve member 30 serve to guidingly engage the inner-surface of like 40 and a threaded coupling the portion of the casing 10 deiining the cylindrical inlet opening 11.

As previously pointed out the iree end of the valve member 30 has .threaded` into it av bolt 32 the head of which carries a leather disc 35. or the like for cooperation with the valveqseatf33.

k Integral with the valve seat 33 is a sleeve portion 42 threadingly secured to a free end of the copper tube 40. This sleeve portion has suitably secured to it the threaded coupling member 4l adapted to be threaded over an extension 43 of the casing as indicated at 44.

Furthermore it will be noted that in Figure 1 is illustrated in full lines the open position of `bar is moved.

the valve and in dotted lines the closed position of the valve.

Now it will be evident that whenever it is desired to have access to the bolt 32 for its replacement or for the repair of the valve disc 35 such access is readily afforded by a removal lof the inlet connection 34 from the casing-10.@More spcically this is accomplished by unthreading the union member 4lfrom the extension 43 of the casing 10 as shown in' Figure 3.4 After this inlet connection 34 has been removed from the casing 10 a suitablesccket wrench 50j may be inserted into the inlet opening 1&1 of the casing and engaged over the head of the bolt 32 whereby the same may be'removedfrom the free end oi the vvalve 30 Without in any way disturbing the levers and diaphragm connected tothe valve member and without necessitating opening of the valvel orreguiator casing.

Needless'to say this arrangement is a highly desirable one iromthe standpoint of its saving in labor sincethe valve disc carrying bolt32` may be removed and replaced with a minimum amount of effort and time. Now I desire` it understood that although I have illustrated and described in detail the preierred embodiment of this invention the inventionis not to be thus limited but only in so far as .deilned by the scope, and spirit of the appendedclaim. i

v I claim as my invention:

In a fluid pressure regulator, a valve bar mounted for axial movement, means to guide saidA bar,.pressi1re responsive mechanism connected -to `one end of said bar to cause axial movement ither'eof, a removable valve member having a. shank portion in threaded engagement with the other end of said bar and having a head of smaller width than said bar and so shaped as to be lengageable by a tool such as a socket wrench, whereby the valve member may be screwed into and out of said bar member, the head portion having a recessed iace,`a seat engaging member disposed in said recess, and a valve seat disposed to be engaged and disengaged by said latter member, when the valve WILLIAM 0.'.'GR0BLE- 

